Vania



J. F. KITCHEN. MACHINE FOR UNCOILING AND STRAIGHTENING METALS TRIPS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 26. 1912- RENEWED JAN. l4, l9

Patented Aug. 15, 1916.

ENVENTOR.

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F i... v a E W aw 4 I. F. KITCHEN. MACHINE FOR UNCOILING AND STRAIGHTENING METAL STRIPS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.26. I912. RENEWED JAN. I4, I9I6- Patented Aug. 15, 1916.

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JOHN F. KITCHEN, 0F MEADVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE SPIBELLA COMPANY, OF MEADVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYL- VANIA.

MACHINE FORUNCOILING AND Application filed December 26, 1912, Serial No. 738,715.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN F. KITCHEN, a resident of Meadville, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Machines. for Uncoiling and Straightening Metal Strips, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a machine or de vice for straightening metal strips.

It is designed particularly for straightening bent wire strips which are afterward to be cut into suitable lengths for forming garment stays, and particularly for taking out of said strips the fiatwise curls or bends therein.

The object of the invention is to provide a suitable and readily controllable machine for effectively straightening such strips, and wherein positive means is provided for feeding the wire stay being formed therethrough.

A further object of the invention is to provide a machine of the character described, embodying rollers between which the stay is passed, and which are positively driven to feed the same therethrough, and wherein said rollers may be loosely rotated in a forward direction to permit the wire fabric to be initially threaded therethrough', and, in case the straightening machine receives the stay directly from the stay making machine, to adjust the tension on the fabric between the two machines.

The invention comprises the construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents an elevation of one side of a machine embodying the invention ;,Fig. 2 is a detail elevation of the ratchet driving mechanism; Fig; 3 is a plan view thereof; Fig. t is an end elevation, partly in section, of the spool or reel and the driving mechanism therefor; Fig. 5 is a sectional elevation taken on the'line 55, Fig. 1; and Fig. 6 is a detail horizontal section on the line 66, Fig. 1.

The present machine is an improvement upon that shown and described in the co pending application of Marcus M. Beeman and John F. Kitchen, for machine for uncoiling and straightening metal strips, filed January 2, 1912, Serial No. 669,092. It is designed particularly for use with the machine for forming Wire garment stays de- Specification of Letters Patent.

STRAIGH'IENING METAL STRIPS.

Patented Aug. 15, 1916.

Renewed January 14, 1916. Serial No. 72,183.

scribed and claimed in my co-pending application Serial No. 739,296, filed Dec. 30, 1912, although it may be used with any such machine. u

The machine shown in the drawings em bodies a base member 1, which may be a part or a continuation of the base of the stay forming machine, or a separate base, and upon which ,all the operative parts of the straightening machine and the reel for receiving the stay being formed are supported. The base 1 shown in the drawings is an eX- tension of the base of the stay forming machine 2, one end of which is indicated in the drawings, and to which is rigidly secured, as by being bolted thereto, the frame 3 of the straightening device. This comprises a roller at mounted to rotate loosely upon a horizontal axis on a bolt or stud 5 secured to said frame, and having a circumferential groove or depression a to receive the stay. Horizontally in line with said idle roller is a second roller 6, also provided with a circumferential groove 6 to receive the stay, and secured toone end of a shaft 7 to rotate therewith. The frame member 3 is provided with a vertical bore 8 in which slides a plunger 9, which at its lower end carries a stud 1O projectinglaterally through a vertical slot 11 in the frame and having a roller or deflecting member 12 mounted thereon. The plunger 9 at its upper end is slotted, as at 13, to form a yoke, the arms of which embrace an operating lever 14 having slot 15 through which passes a pin or bolt 16 secured to the arms of the yoke. Said operating lever is pivotally mounted, as at 17, upon a boss or projection 18 of the frame 3. The pivot 17 is constructed in the same manner as the corresponding pivot in the application aforesaid, in order to create the necessary friction to hold the plunger 9 in any adjusted position thereof.

The rollers 1 and 6 are both located on the same side of the path of movement of the stay; being straightened through the straightening device, while the roller or deflecting member 12 is located on the other side thereof. The deflecting member also may be moved downwardly into position between the two rollers 1 and 6, as shown in Fig. 1, in order to deflect the stay being straightened from a straight line and thereby remove flatwise bends or curls there from. The present machine is also provided with means for positively feeding the wire stay being straightened therethrough. This comprises a roller 20, of smaller diameter than either of the rollers 1 or 6, and located vertically above roller 6. Said roller 20 is provided on its circumference with a plurality of pins or projections 21, which are arranged in accordance with the arrangement of the wires in the wire stay being straightened. In the present instance, these pins or projections are staggered so as to successively enter the eyes or loops 22 in the stay. Roller 20 is mounted upon a shaft 23 parallel to and above shaft 7 and rotatable in a bearing block 24 adjustable vertically in a slot in the frame 3 and held down by a spring 25. The straightening rollers are driven by ashaft 26, extending longitudinally of the ma chine and suitably driven at one end-by a gear 27, which may be driven by any suitable means. Shaft 26 is provided with a worm 28 which meshes with a worm gear 29 loosely rotatable upon a reduced portion 30 of a gear 31. Said gear is mounted on a reduced portion of the shaft 7 and is coupled by a pin or projection 32 to a ratchet 33. Ratchet 33 and gear 31 are rigidly clamped together and to the shaft 7 by a nut 34: threaded on the end of the shaft. orin wheel 29 is provided on its outer side with a pivoted pawl 35 yieldingly held in engagement with the teeth of ratchet 33 by a spring 35 Shaft 23 which carries the roller 20 is provided at its rear end with a gear 36 meshing with and driven by gear 31, it being understood that the relative sizes of the gears 31 and 36 are the same as the relative sizes of rollers 6 and 20.

In the machine described, shaft 26 drives worm 28, which rotates worm wheel 29. lVorm wheel 29, through pawl 35, drives ratchet 33 and thus rotates shaft 7, roller 6 and gear 31, which in turn rotates gear 36, shaft 23 and roller 20. The pawl 35 and ratchet 33 are so arranged that when the shaft 26 is rotated in the proper direction, roller 20 will be rotated to draw the wire fabric through the straightening device and around the deflecting member 12. The positive engagement of the pins or projections 21 with the wire of the successive eyes or loops gives a positive feed to the wire fabric and thus dispenses entirely with a sep arate traction device for feeding the wire fabric.

The pawl and ratchet 35 and 33 during normal operation of the straightening device, are inactive, except in so far as the pawl 35 is constantly engaged with the ratchet and rotates the same without slip therebetween. Whenever a new piece of stay fabric is to be straightened, the end thereof is passed over roller 1 and under the deflecting member 12 and then over roller 6,

until it is caught by the pins or projections 21 on roller 20. Shaft 7 may then be rotated by the knurled nut 3% to rotate the rollers 6 and 20 idly with reference to the driving shaft 26 and worm 28 until the fabric is threaded past said rollers. During this movement, the ratchet 33 rotates loosely and slips past the pawl 35. In this manner any amount of tension may be placed on the portion of the wire fabric or stay between the stay making machine and the straightening device.

In connection with the straightening device described, 1 may also utilize a suitable reel for receiving the wire fabric, such as the reel shown in the drawings, which comprises a flanged spool 10 arranged to be driven by a shaft ll journaled in an upright i2 secured to the frame or base 1. Said shaft at its outer end is provided with a worm wheel 43 frictionally held between two fiat friction clutch members ll, 15, of which member 1 1 is fixed to the shaft and member 45 is splined or feathered thereon and is held in engagement with the worm gear by a spring 16, the tension of which may be adjusted by a regulating nut 4:7 threaded on the outer end of the shaft. lVorm wheel 43 is driven by a worm 48 secured to and rotating with the driving shaft 26.

l/Vith the frictional driving mechanism described, the spool or reel 40 is constantly driven, and preferably at a peripheral speed slightly greater than the rate of feed of the wire fabric through the machine, so that the clutch members will have a slight slip at all times and thus maintain the fabric taut.

To permit ready removal of the spool or reel from the reeling device, shaft 41 is provided with a flange or collar 50 having a center pin 51 arranged to fit a bore 52 of the spool and provided with an eccentrically disposed driving pin or projection 53 fitting a socket in the spool. At its other end, the

spool is supported by a center pin 5% on a stub shaft 55 endwise adjustable in the bore of standard 56. Said stub shaft is secured in adjusted position by set screw 57, which may be released to permit the shaft to be moved endwise so that the spool may be readily removed when desired.

The machine described is simple and positively feeds the wire fabric being formed therethrough. It also permits of ready insertion of the fabricinto the straightening device and the reeling mechanism takes care of the slack in the fabric. The machine dispenses entirely with a separate traction de vice for feeding the fabric and also with separate means for maintaining the fabric in engagement with the straightening rollers or devices. 7

hat I claim is:

1. In a machine for straightening wire garment stays, the combination of two rollers located on the same side of the path of movement of the stay, one of the rollers being provided with a groove to receive the stay, a member arranged to contact the other side of the stay and located between said rollers and arranged to deflect the stay from a straight line, a feeding roller provided with a plurality of pins or projections adapted to project into the groove in said grooved roller and engage the stay fabric, and means for rotating said feeding roller.

2. In a machine for straightening wire garment stays, the combination of two rollers located on the same side of the path of movement of the stay, one of said rollers being provided with a groove to receive the stay, a member arranged to contact the other side of said stay and located between said rollers and arranged to deflect the stay from a straight line, means for rotating one of said rollers, a feeding roller located in proximity to said grooved roller and provided with aplurality of pins or projections adapted to project into the groove of said grooved roller and engage the stay fabric beyond said deflecting member along the path of movement of the stay fabric, and means for rotating said feeding roller.

3. In a machine for straightening Wire garment stays, the combination of two rollers located on the same side of the path of movement of the stay and provided with grooves to receive the stay, a member arranged to contact the other side of the stay and located between said rollers and arranged to deflect the stay from a straight line, a shaft carrying one of said rollers, means for rotating said shaft, a feeding roller provided with a plurality of pins or projections adapted to project into the groove of one of said grooved rollers and engage the stay fabric, and gearing connecting said shaft and said feeding roller for rotating the same.

4. In a machine for straightening wire garment stays, the combination of a frame, a roller rotatable idly thereon, a second roller, a shaft rotatable in the frame and carrying the second roller, said rollers being located on the same side of the path of movement of the stay, and a member arranged to contact the other side of the stay and located between said rollers and arranged to deflect the stay from a straight line, a driving shaft, a gear loosely rotatable upon said roller shaft and operatively connected to said driving shaft, a ratchet fixed to said roller shaft, a pawl 'on said loosely rotating gear and engaging said ratchet, a feeding roller provided with a plurality of pins or projections adapted to engage the stay fabric, and connections between said roller shaft and the feeding roller for rotating the same, said roller shaft being loosely rotatable in one direction to permit the stay to be threaded through the machine.

5. In a machine for straightening wire garment stays, the combination of two rollers located on the same side of the path of movement of the stay, a deflecting member arranged to contact with the other side of the stay, a feeding roller provided with a plurality of pins or projections adapted to engage the stay fabric, and means for driving said feeding roller, said means including a pawl and ratchet arranged to permit loose rotation of said feeding roller with respect to its driving means to insert a stay into said machine.

6. In a machine for straightening wire garment stays, the combination of straightening devices, a feeding roller provided with a plurality of pins or projections adapted to engage the stay fabric, a driving shaft, connections between said shaft and said feeding roller for driving the same, said connections including a pawl and ratchet so arranged as to normally cause said driving shaft to rotate said feeding roller, and adapted to permit said feeding roller to be rotated loosely in a forward direction to permit the insertion of a stay into the machine.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

JOHN F. KITCHEN. Witnesses:

F. F. Soon, T. F. CHARLTON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Iatents, Washington, D. C. 

